See for yourself:
I spent most of my adult life missing one of the three legs of the stool of stability: Food, Shelter, and Medical Care.
Most of my life I was missing medical care, but I compensated for it by not drinking, doing drugs, and becoming a vegetarian at the age of 20. Still, I had medical bills for things that insurance companies denied when I did have insurance. (Most women know how hard it is to get "women's health" medication and therapies covered by insurance, and end up paying for expensive but necessary medication out of pocket. It's easier to buy a gun in the USA than it is to get hormone replacement therapy (HRT).)
These days, at middle age in abject poverty, I have food stamps and Medicaid covering those two legs of the stool, but no shelter/housing. Many people, like me, spend our entire lives just trying to survive. We work twice as hard for half as much, and are then blamed for our poverty. We never get to fulfill our potential in life because we're always trying to scrape together first, last, and deposit, or cover the latest car repair, on low wages. Spending time in college we can't afford, or taking trips or other luxuries, are absolute non-starters for us. Things most middle-class and rich people take for granted--like having a washer and dryer to do laundry instead of trekking to laundromats; or not having to cut your own hair because you can't afford $25-$50 to have a pro do it; or eating out, (even at an inexpensive restaurant), or even enough money for a full tank of gas--are luxuries we rarely attain.
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| Article at https://democracyjournal.org/arguments/bold-versus-old/ |
One thing people who hate homeless people conveniently forget is that most people have someone or something that supports them: a job, family, a government subsidy, a tax break, or friends who will help when they get into trouble.
Homeless people don't have a support system like that. Most of us have been completely on our own all of our lives, and remain that way because society hates the poor, and hates the homeless even more, blaming them for their plight.
It doesn't have to be that way, but change toward a fairer society in the USA isn't even remotely on the horizon.
And then there's this:
So anyone at this point who hasn't figured out the system is rigged against working people is deliberately sticking their head in the sand.
